Archiwum

Interview with Anna Montgomery

What did you feel,when you was sharing a stage with such stars like The Pointers Sisters or Shelby Lynn?

I was on a national tour with Shelby Lynn and it was great fun. She is an amazing artist who never does the same show twice. She is unpredictable and in the moment, and that made performing with her very exciting.

Unfortunately, June Pointer passed away before we ever got out on tour so I did not experience that. We had been rehearsing and she fell ill, but being chosen by such a huge American musical icon was a thrill and honor.

What can you say about growing in music-famous family? What is your the greatest memory from those time? My memories go back to very early childhood. My father was always in the studio with his bandmates and friends, and they all had children right around the same age, so we were learning instruments and pretending we were a band too. We would learn songs by Blondie or the Cars. haha. As we grew up we were all in bands together at various times. Many bands have been formed and broken up over the years, and some included our fathers as band members. We are a musical family of sorts. My mother was an opera singer and apparently I was in my first opera was I was in her womb! I was constantly attending symphony orchestra concerts and operas and musicals as well as rock n roll shows. I learned many instruments throughout my life starting at age 3 and discovered my true love was writing and recording at around age 17.

How do look a real life in Los Angeles?

Los Angeles is a creative mecca. It’s a city where people come to fulfill their dreams in entertainment. So… there is a lot of everything. There are fakes and people who only care about fame, and there are real artists who care about their craft and are making an honest effort to contribute something. Everyone I know who has survived a career in entertainment here has done a mixture of both- things that are commercially driven and things that are artistically driven. The one thing to know about LA is that it is not a live music loving town. This is a place for studio work and record making. As far as „life” itself- it is diverse, in people as well as landscape. You can live any which way you can imagine here. Living here is like living all over the world. If you want a new experience you just move to a new part of town. It can be isolating, there is not a great sense of community but you do your best to find your people and stick with them.

Interesting question. I think there is value in the fact that we are given the opportunity to make a living however we can imagine and as long as its legal. Free enterprise is a very generous philosophy. We are engrained with a belief that we can be anything we want to be. Whether that is true or not is another question. And at what cost to others. In some ways it breeds a discontent that there is always more to be achieved, but in another way it gives life a lot of hope and creativity.

Did you ever think about not making music or treat it like hobby?

Of course. I rebelled against music as a career when I went to college. I felt it was an inherited talent, not a choice, and I didn’t like that so I got a degree in Psychology. As soon as I graduated I decided to pursue music though. ha! It was just too much a part of my being, but at least then I knew it was my choice.

What is the most important value in your life?

I value ideas. I like the idea of surrender. Allowing life to show you what it is instead of searching for it or making it happen a certain way.

Who had the biggest influence on your decision to became an artist?

My parents for sure- but I started really identifying with music when I got ahold of blues and jazz. Alberta Hunter and Jr Wells had a huge impact on me. Then Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Dianne Reeves, Etta James, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway. I wanted to be a jazz and soul singer.

How did you recall the year 2013?

I’ve been in LA writing pop music and EDM toplines.

What was your first association with Poland?

Gosh, I think it was 2010 when I got an email from a producer in London who wanted to hire me and I couldn’t figure out how he knew of me. He said he had just been to Poland and I was like…. ok… what does that mean? And he said- ‚oh you didn’t know that you have a hit song there?”. ha! NO! I didn’t know anything about it. I started researching and found out that one of my toplines had been used by Robert M and was a hit. I saw YouTube videos of school children singing it and a New Years Even countdown celebration in Warsaw that was playing my voice. It was surreal and crazy. I wrote to Robert M immediately and I gave him a couple more toplines. Then Wetfingers used another topline. It was all happening without me knowing really.

What you do think about polish music industrie?

Like I said- it’s a mystery to me. I have never been there. I have only met one producer that I worked with in person. Everything has been through facebook and emais and youtube. it’s a strange world!

How do you aprise work with polish producers in last couple years?

The truth is Polish producers write me all the time asking to collaborate but I’m not writing new topline for them. I tried in the beginning to do new work for everyone that asked but it became too much. Now I just refer them to my catalog of existing topline. I try to add works to it when I can. I do not discriminate- I don’t care if they are famous or a beginner. If they want to use my voice, they can.